Region 12 vote could have dramatic impact on district

Art Cummings:

Published 7:24 pm, Saturday, April 5, 2014

When residents of the Region 12 towns of Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury go to the polls for their April 29 referendum, they will be casting among the most important votes in the history of the district.

First and foremost, voters will be asked to set aside one of the key underpinnings of the 1967 regionalization plan that created the district -- the guarantee that all three towns would always have an elementary school within their borders.

It is important to note that, in keeping with a 2009 Connecticut Supreme Court ruling sought by Bridgewater, a majority of voters in all three towns -- not an overall majority of Region 12 voters -- must approve any change in the regional plan. That means any one town can block that change and prevent consolidation.

Second, voters will be asked to approve the appropriation of nearly $41 million -- $32.6 million to build a new pre-K-to-grade-5 consolidated elementary school on the Shepaug Valley Campus in Washington and $8.3 million to repair and renovate Shepaug Valley Middle High School.

This is obviously an important proposal, but if Question 1 -- the proposed change in the regional plan -- is defeated in any town, Question 2 becomes academic.

It is most likely a high percentage of residents will vote Yes/Yes or No/No, with perhaps a few Yes/No ballots from voters who want to change the regional plan but don't like some of the specifics of the $41 million proposal.

It is not an exaggeration to observe that the outcome of the referendum could have a dramatic impact on the future of education in the three Region 12 towns, the future of the district itself, and the future socio-economic fabric of the communities, most notably in Bridgewater and Roxbury.

Washington residents would have the least to lose from consolidation, since their children would still be going to school in their hometown. It is expected that Washington voters will support both questions, on the assumption they are willing to take on millions of dollars in long-term bonding in an era of declining enrollment and a perhaps uncertain future for the district.

Bridgewater and Roxbury would have more to lose, since they would become the only towns in Connecticut without elementary schools if Burnham School and Booth Free School were closed -- a turn of events that could have significant impact on the local business community, housing prices, demographics and the strong community bond that exists in both towns.

Bridgewater has been especially passionate about keeping its local school open, and it would be surprising if its voters did not deliver a No/No response on April 29.

Given Bridgewater's historically strong opposition to consolidation and its ability to veto any proposed change in the regional plan, it is puzzling that Region 12 school officials did not make more of an effort to come up with a game plan that would have kept Burnham School open.

The reality is that Region 12 is experiencing a downward spiral in student enrollment along with ever-increasing costs per pupil, and projections are that those trends will continue in the coming decade.

This is serious business, and it would seem to me that Region 12's leaders would have wanted to find a proposal that both made sense and had a good chance of passing. But by once again coming up with a consolidation/school closure plan that clearly has alienated many in Bridgewater (and Roxbury), those officials have taken a calculated risk.

If both questions pass on April 29, that risk may have been worth taking.

If they go down, however, the officials will regret that strategy -- as well as all the wasted time and the nearly $150,000 spent on planning -- and it will be back to the drawing board.

In the meantime, residents throughout Region 12 need to weigh all the factors, consider all the pros and cons involved in the referendum proposals, and make a commitment to get out to the polls that day and participate in decision-making that could dramatically affect the future of all three communities.

Next Sunday's "Gut Feeling" will take a close look at some of the key issues involved in Region 12's upcoming referendum.

Art Cummings is editor emeritus of The News-Times. He can be contacted at 203-731-3351 or at acummings@newstimes.com